Sand Marble Rally 2018
The 2018 season of the Sand Marble Rally started on the 18th August 2018 after being delayed by extremely hot and dry weather, followed with heavy rain showers in early August. This was the third annual season of the Sand Marble Rally. Unlike previous seasons of the competition, the 2018 season did not take place in two halves either side of the MarbleLympics, the standard format is due to be reinstated for the 2019 competition. 2018 was also the first season that the field of marbles was split into two different divisions (A and B). Throughout the season, there were 8 races in the A division (which contains 20 marbles), and 4 races in the lower B division. The top 4 (Dragon's Egg, Red Number 3, Slimer, and Quicksilver) are prequalified for the rally. Everyone else needs to qualify. A preliminary qualification stage decided which of the two divisions each marble entered. Qualification The Qualifier was released on 19 May, 2018. There are 4 races consisting of seven marbles. Slimer accidentally raced in the qualifier, despite prequalifying. His race has been modified due to this. Qualifier 1 #Comet - 41.04 Qualified - A Division #Crazy Cat's Eye - 41.35 Qualified - A Division #MarblyMcMarbleface - 41.50 ' Qualified - A DIvision' #Summer Sky - 41.63 Qualified - A Division #Wisp of Darkness - 41.73 Not qualified - B Division #El Capitan - 42.00 Not qualified - B Division #Blizzard Blaster - 42.70 Not qualified - B Division Qualifier 2 #Big Pearl - 40.91 Qualified - A Division #Deep Ocean - 40.93 Qualified - A Division #Ghost Plasma - 41.69 Qualified - A Division #Rastafarian - 42.14 Qualified - A Division #Reflektor - 42.56 Not qualified - B Division #Blazing Fireball - 42.73 Not qualified - B Division #Cobra - DNF Not qualified - B Division Qualifier 3 #Grasshopper - 39.80 Qualified - A Division #Ducktape - 39.91 Qualified - A Division #Black Knight - 40.36 Qualified - A Division #Nemo - 40.55 Qualified - A Division #H2 Blue - 40.64 Not qualified - B Division #Pollo Loco - 40.70 Not qualified - B DIvision #Silver Bolt - 40.91 Not qualified - B Division Qualifier 4 #Phoenix - 41.32 Qualified - A Division #Slimer - 41.38 Qualified* - A Division #Lollipop 41.70 Qualified - A Division #Superball - 41.99 Qualified - A Division #Blue Moon - 42.21 Qualified - A Division #White Widow - 42.36 Not qualified - B Division #Super Turtle - 43.21 Not qualified - B Division * Slimer already prequalified. New rules are added. If Slimer finishes in the Top 4, then the 5th place marble will qualify. If Slimer finishes 5th or lower, then the top 4 and Slimer will advance Qualified Marbles to the A Division #Comet #Crazy Cat's Eye #Marbly McMarbleface #Summer Sky #Big Pearl #Deep Ocean #Ghost Plasma #Rastafarian #Grasshopper #Ducktape #Black Knight #Nemo #Phoenix #Slimer #Lollipop #Superball #Blue Moon #Dragon's Egg #Red Number 3 #Quicksilver 'Venues:' The Races are held on tall sand dunes or sand hills in the Netherlands. 'Main Tournament:' *'t Peeske Montferland **Located 22 km east southeast of Arnhem near the village "Beek Montferland" **Race 1 and 2 **Height difference: 20 meters *'Klimduin Brechtdorp:' (Koningsweg) **Located along the Oorsprongweg north of Schoorl, a small town north of Alkmaar, the Netherlands. This is an alternative more quite location compared with the "famous" and overcrowded klimduin located at Schoorl itself. **Race 3, 4, 7 and 8 **Height difference: 45 meters *'Doornse Gat:' **Located east of "Doorn", a village located in the Utrechtse Heuvelrug, 15 km south of Amersfoort **Race 5 and 6 **Height difference: 25 meters MarbleLympics Consolation Race The Non Qualifier race also included 11 MarbleLympics Teams who didn't qualify for the 2018 Winter MarbleLympics #Rojo Rollers - 44.14 #Chocolatiers - 44.62 #Jungle Jumpers - 44.71 #Quicksilvers - 44.86* #Kobalts - 45.39 #Black Jacks - 45.81* #Shining Swarm - 46.08 #Golden Orbs - 46.63* #Team Plasma - 47.06 #Jawbreakers - 47.23 #Gliding Glaciers - 47.77* *Not competing in 2019/retired. Cancellation On 28 June 2018, it was announced that the Sand Marble Rally has been cancelled because the weather is too hot and dry in the Netherlands, creating unfavorable to create sand tracks. It was replaced with another Marble Rally filled with alternate courses with dirt, street, and water. The replacement rally, and the 2018 Marble Rally in general, was cancelled on 2 July due to inconvenient scheduling, hot dry weather lasting for weeks, and a lot of interruptions while test recording. Reinstatement On 14 August 2018, it was announced that the 2018 Sand Marble Rally was reinstated and that Jelle was able to record two A division races and one B division race. The first video released on 18 August 2018 and it was announced that the tournament would consist of 8 Division A races and 4 Division B races. After the main races, a race-off will be done for promotion and relegation. It has yet to be announced who promotes and who gets demoted. Divisions The 2018 Sand Marble Rally is divided in 2 divisions with the A division containing 20 marbles and a B Division containing 11 marbles. After the last race in each division, the qualifying for the next season is as following: A Division: *Best 6 marbles will remain in the A Division *Numbers 7 to 14 will do a race-off *Numbers 15 to 20 will relegate to the B-Division directly B Division: *Best 2 marbles will promote directly to the A Division *Numbers 3 to 9 will do a race-off *Numbers 10 and 11 will remain in the B Division. Race-off The Race-off will replace the qualification for the 2019 season and will be done after the final. This race is expected in late november. In the race-off, the 16 marbles (including a newcomer) will battle for the remaining 8 spots in the A Division. Next Season The next season will be in 2019 with will start with the race-off video. The 2019 will have 16 marbles in each division. It will be divided in 4 seasons with possibly courses on different terrains like snow and dirt. The first 2 seasons (winter and spring) will be done in early 2019 prior to the 2019 Marblelympics. The last 2 seasons will be in summer/autumn 2019. A new race-off will be done after the finals. The number of races in each season will be still decided soon. Retired Marbles #Fantasy (name changed to Phoenix) #Starman #Glassy (replaced with Grasshopper) #Tarantula #Blue Smoke #The Flash #Mocha Madness #Snake's Tub Newcomers #Ducktape #Grasshopper (replaces Glassy) #Phoenix (ex Fantasy) #Superball 'Standings' *tied 'Point System' *1st: 25pts *2nd: 18pts *3rd: 15pts *4th: 12pts *5th: 11pts *6th: 10pts *7th: 9pts *8th: 8pts *9th: 7pts *10th: 6pts *11th: 5pts *12th: 4pts *13th: 3pts *14th: 2pts *15th or Lower: 1pt *DNF/Ret.: 0pts *DNS: 0pts Winners *Note: **P1–P10 is on the front row **P11–P20 is on the back row 'Hashtags' *Grasshopper- #GRA *Ducktape - #DUC *Blazing Fireball - #BFB *Red Number 3 - #RN3 *Dragon's Egg - #DRA *Big Pearl - #BPL *El Capitan - #ELC *Nemo - #NEM *Pollo Loco - #POL *Green Turtle - #GTU *Deep Ocean - #DPO *White Widow - #WWD *Marbly McMarbleface - #MMM *Cobra - #COB *Superball - #SUP *Lollipop - #LOL *Rastafarian - #RAS *Summer Sky - #SUM *Comet - #COM *Blizzard Blaster - #BBD *Silver Bolt - #SBO *Quicksilver - #QUI *Slimer - #SLI *Ghost Plasma - #GHO *Black Knight - #BLA *Phoenix - #PHX *Blue Moon - #BLU *Crazy Cat's Eye - #CCE *Reflektor - #REF *H2 Blue - #H2B *Wisp of Darkness - #WOD See Also *Sand Marble Rally 2016 *Sand Marble Rally 2017 *List of Sand Marble Rally Records Category:Tournaments